The hugely successful European Citizens Initiative (ECI) "STOP VIVISECTION" reached an important milestone on Monday 11th May, as witnessed by the hundreds of citizens who attended the public hearing at the EU Parliament in Brussels.

A FIRST HEARING (behind closed doors) was held at the offices of the EUROPEAN COMMISSION, which was represented by Vice President Jyrki Katainen, Director General of DG Environment Karl Falkenberg and several other senior Commission executives, all of whom expressed a shared consensus on the goals of STOP VIVISECTION (the end of animal experimentation). The ECI organisers were represented by Professor Gianni Tamino, Dr Andre Menache, Adriano Varrica, Vanna Brocca, Fabrizia Pratesi and Flavien Deltort. Despite some differences with respect to a definite timeline in achieving this goal, an atmosphere of goodwill pervaded throughout this historical meeting, which brought the issue of animal testing to the attention of the heads of European decision makers.

The promoters of STOP VIVISECTION proposed a transition period of five years, culminating in the total abolition of animal testing (in the field of human biomedical research). During this transition period all available non animal test methods would be made mandatory, all validations, whenever possible, would be done, as well as the correction of the validation procedure, not possible if based on the comparison with the animal model (that never was validated !!) but should be based on the comparison with results obtained on the human species.

The Commission expressed its appreciation to those who have completed an ECI and its desire that such an instrument of democracy be more often used.

A SECOND HEARING (attended by several hundreds of persons) was held at the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT in the afternoon of Monday, May 11. The hearing was organized by four parliamentary Committees (AGRI, agriculture and animal-welfare / ENVI, environment and health / ITRE, industry and trade / PETI, petitions).

After the greetings of the Presidents of ENVI and AGRI Committees and introduction of the Commission (Jyrki Katainen and Karl Falkenberg) the first to speak were the scientists of the Promoters' group: Gianni Tamino, Claude Reiss and André Menache. All three explained the scopes of the Initiative and the reasons for the actual very widely spread opposition to animal testing in the world of science.

The followong debate, entitled "Prospects for the current legislative framework, the value of the animal model for predicting human responses and alternatives to animal testing."

was divided in three "rounds". Each opened with the statements of one of the three experts (chosen by AGRI) in animal experimentation. These were:

Ray Greek, president of the American "Americans For Medical Advancement" (AFMA), Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, on behalf of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries (EFPIA), and Emily Mc Ivor, for the Humane Society International.

Ray Greek and Emily Mc Ivor strongly supported STOP VIVISECTION. Ray Greek with a very precise explanation of the scientific reasons behind the Initiative. Not so - obviously - Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who, referring to her life's work, stated that the animal model should not be abandoned. The debate held in each of the rounds was fed with numerous interventions of Deputies (the only ones who were authorized to speak from the audience). Figures show the weight of a quite tangible success for STOP VIVISECTION in Parliament: out of 29 interventions of deputies 16 were in favor, 10 against and 3 neutral.

The CONCLUSIONS of the long afternoon meeting (3:00 pm to 6:30 pm) were drawn by Gianni Tamino. He asked the Commission to be given precise and trustworthy answers, and to reject the strong contradictions existing in Directive 2010/63.

A full awareness, he said, now exists in society that defending the rights of science, defending the rights of humans for health and a sound environment, and defending the rights of animals requires us to go in the very same direction: the end of animal testing. He asked that the period "Animal testing is still necessary for the protection of human health" be deleted from the 2010/63 directive and from any other European law.

An overall evaluation of the results obtained with the Initiative "STOP VIVISECTION" can be made within a month when the official response of the EU Commission will be given to the ECI proponents.

However, at present, at the date of May 11, 2015, the STOP VIVISECTION proponents are happy to say that a positive change seems to be happening , and that they have high hopes that the decisions of the EU Commission, in June, will welcome their issues in a satisfactory way.

To continue to be informed in the next few months about STOP VIVISECTION

Statement supporting European Directive 2010/63/EU (“Directive”) on the protection of animals used for scientific purposesThe European Parliament and Commission must oppose the ‘Stop Vivisection’ Citizens’ Initiative that is seeking to repeal the Directive and ban animal research. The Directive is vital to ensure that necessary research involving animals can continue whilst requiring enhanced animal welfare standards.Summary: The use of animals in research has facilitated major breakthroughs in medicine which have transformed human and animal health. We support research using animals where alternative methods are not available, where the potential benefits to health are compelling, and where acceptable ethical and welfare standards can be met. The Directive has enhanced animal welfare standards and introduced the concepts of refinement, replacement and reduction (‘3Rs’) across the EU, while ensuring Europe remains a world leader in biomedical research. The ‘Stop Vivisection’ Citizens’ Initiative must be opposed by the European Parliament and the Commission - repealing the Directive would represent a major step backwards both for animal welfare in the EU and for Europe’s leading role in advancing human and animal health.Research using animals has enabled major advances in the understanding of biology and has contributed to the development of nearly every type of treatment used in medical and veterinary practice today. Research on animals continues to be necessary to understand human and animal health and disease, and to develop and improve treatments for patient benefit across the world.Animals may be used in research under the Directive where the potential medical, veterinary and scientific benefits are compelling and there is no viable alternative method. The use of animals for testing cosmetic products was banned across the EU in 2009 and the importation and sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals from outside the EU was completely banned in 2013.For research using animals to be both ethical and scientifically rigorous, it must meet high welfare standards and the implementation of the Directive is key in achieving these standards consistently across the EU. Shaped by consultation with animal welfare groups, scientists and animal technologists, the Directive importantly embeds into EU legislation the requirement to consider the 3Rs when using animals in research. The 3Rs are:• Replacement – methods which avoid or replace the use of animals;• Reduction - methods which minimise the number of animals used per experiment;• Refinement – methods which minimise any suffering and improve animal welfare.Developments for alternative methods to the use of animals in research, such as use of human cell models and computer modelling, continue to progress and the biosciences sector must continue to drive these forward. However, alternative methods are not able to fully replace the use of animals at this time. For many diseases, including complex conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, which affect multiple organs, we must understand how the whole organism interacts, which means that research using whole animals continues to be essential.We call on the European Parliament and Commission to reaffirm their commitment to the Directive. Any roll back from this would both undermine animal welfare and compromise high-quality research using animals. Such research is critical to advancing human and animal health in the EU and globally -and to maintaining Europe’s leading role in that endeavour.

Jeremy Rifkin: OPINION PIECE on STOPVIVISECTION

Moving Beyond Animal Experimentation Across the European Union

Sometimes, the great transformative changes in society fly under the radar screen. That is happening right now across the European Union. A grassroots citizens movement to halt the senseless practice of subjecting millions of animals to painful suffering and death in the testing of toxic chemicals that affect human health is picking up momentum in every country in Europe.

The STOP VIVESECTION campaign (http://www.stopvivisection.eu/) is taking advantage of article 11 of the European Treaty, which establishes the right to introduce European Citizen’s Initiatives (ECI), to mobilize broad popular support. Under the procedure, if one million EU citizens from at least one quarter of the member states sign onto a Citizen’s Initiative, it can be automatically submitted to the European Commission in the form of a legislative proposal, giving the citizenry the same formal right to propose legislation that is already granted to the European Parliament and the European Council.

The STOP VIVESECTION initiative has already collected over 700,000 signatures from across Europe and is within striking distance of reaching its goal of over 1 million signatures.

For years, governments, corporations, and researchers have argued that the testing of animals to assess the risk of chemicals to human health is essential to ensure the well-being of our own species. But now, new breakthroughs in the field of genomics, bioinformatics, epigenetics, and computational toxicology are providing new research tools for studying the impact of toxic chemicals on human health that are far more accurate in assessing the risk of these chemicals to human beings. Antivivisection societies and animal rights organizations have made this argument for many, many years—only to be scorned by scientific bodies, medical associations, and industry lobbies who accuse them of being “anti-progress” in caring more about animals than people. Now it is the scientific establishment, interestingly enough, that has come to the very same conclusions.

A number of years ago, the National Research Council of the United States’ National Academy of Sciences—the premier scientific body in America—issued an exhaustive study questioning the continued value of subjecting millions of animals to toxicity testing. According to the report, and this is a quote, “current tests provide little information on modes and mechanisms of action, which are critical for understanding interspecies differences in toxicity, and little or no information for assessing human variability and human susceptibility.” In other words, millions of animals each year are subjected to senseless suffering and put to death despite the fact that the tests provide very little information for assessing the risk of these chemicals to human beings. Toxicity testing in animals is simply bad science.

The National Academy of Sciences report says that new cutting-edge technologies now offer the possibility of securing more accurate data for the first time on chemical risk exposure. Indeed, the architects of the report say “over time the need for animal testing should be greatly reduced—and possibly even eliminated.” Good news for our fellow creatures.

While the new methodologies for toxicity testing will spare the lives of millions of animals, they also hold the promise of saving the lives of millions of human beings. Quicker and cheaper testing procedures and more accurate data will speed the assessment of these risks of chemicals and provide the means of creating new drugs and other interventions to secure our own health. In short, it’s a win-win for both our fellow creatures and human beings.

The public may be largely unaware of the fact that Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union acknowledges that “since animals are sentient beings” the formulation and implementation of EU policies must “pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals, while respecting the legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating in particular to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage.”

With new state-of-the-art research-testing models, there is no longer any need to subject millions and millions of animals to inhumane testing in research laboratories. It is time now to quickly phase out vivisection research in laboratories across the European Union. The STOP VIVESECTION Citizen’s Initiative takes Europe and the world into a new era where we extend our empathic sensibility to our fellow creatures, recognizing their inherent right to exist and flourish alongside our species here on Earth.

Jeremy Rifkin is an adviser to the European Union and to heads of state around the world. He is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C.